


On Course

by GreenLion (DarkestQuasar)



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Anal Sex, F/M, M/M, Multi, Sibling Incest, Underage Sex, Vaginal Sex
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-01
Updated: 2017-10-16
Packaged: 2018-09-21 09:10:53
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,450
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9541001
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarkestQuasar/pseuds/GreenLion
Summary: In which Katie misses her brother and has all the reason to. Shiro helps her hold on.





	1. Chapter 1

As the day of the mission drew closer,  Matt grew more impatient, more anxious. It wasn’t just the nervousness of going into space for the first time, it was also the feeling of having to leave his little sister behind.

He’d always felt like he was the one who had to protect her, to take care of her, and he was afraid of what might happen to her without him.

He knew it was stupid.

He knew she was strong, independent for her age – but that didn’t change his emotions in the slightest.

And so, the night before he’d leave for Kerberos, he knocked on her bedroom door. “… Katie?”

_What are you thinking, Matt?_

He heard ruffling from inside as she probably freed herself of her blanket to open the door and give him that wonderfully bright smile he grew to adore so much.

“What’s up Matt? Shouldn’t you be asleep with the big mission tomorrow and all?”

Matt worried his lower lip between his teeth for a moment, awkwardly adjusted his already perfectly straight-sitting glasses. “I … there’s a thing I wanted to talk about with you. Some stuff I want to get out before leaving. Is it okay if I come in?”

“… sure?” Katie tilted her head, light-brown hair flowing over her shoulder as she stepped aside to let Matt enter and closed the door behind him.

Matt sat down on the bed and Katie made herself comfortable next to him. Only now Matt realized how beautiful she looked today, thin nightshirt accenting her slowly forming curves and the elegant crane of her neck, the glint in her eyes curious and friendly.

“So, what do you want to talk about? I’m all ears.”

Matt swallowed, heart heavy in his chest, insecurity almost drowning out all other thoughts. “Katie … I want to protect you. You know that, right?”

“Of course I do, dummy, it’s not like that was ever a secret. You never tried to hide that at all.” She chuckled warmly, but then her expression grew more serious and she frowned. “But that’s not why you’re here right now, is it?”

“You just know me too well.”

“No, you’re just too simple to read.” She ruffled his hair as if he were a little boy and he couldn’t hold back a chuckle before putting a hand on hers and gently guiding it back down to her side.

“I want to give you something to remember me. I want …” _a black hole to open right now and swallow me for having started this_ “… I would like your first time to be with me. Of course only if you want. I mean … I want it to be good for you.”

At the very second the words left his mouth, he realized how stupid all of this was, how sick and how _blind_ he had been. He wanted to get up, to run, to leave for space and never return – but Katie held him back. Her warm, brown eyes looking up at him, gentle and caring. Then, she intertwined their fingers and craned her neck to brush her lips against his cheek. “You’re cute,” was all she said before pulling Matt into her arms and nuzzling his ear, making him blush.

Eyes wide, he stiffened in her grasp and swallowed audibly, once, twice, before finally hugging her back. “I’m sorry. This was a … this was a stupid idea. Let’s just … pretend this conversation never happened, okay?”

Katie tilted her head in confusion. “For real? You come here in the middle of the night, basically tell me that you love me and that you want me to have my – and I know it’s yours, too, don’t look at me like that – first time with you and _then_ you expect me to just forget about it?” She put her hands on his cheeks and pulled him towards her, their foreheads meeting. “Matt. Look at me. You’ve picked the worst time and the worst words to ask me this, but my answer is still yes.”

Matt’s face went through a plethora of expressions, from apology to confusion, fear, surprise and ultimately, insecure adoration. “You’re not making fun of me, are you?”

“Listen, I make fun of you a lot, but not when it’s this important.” She bent forward, her lips but an inch away from his, their breaths mingling. “Can I kiss you?”

“S-sure,” was all Matt managed to get out before Katie’s lips met his and she pulled him with her onto the mattress, his body covering her smaller frame.

For the second time this evening, he realized how pretty, downright _beautiful_ his little sister was and he was hit with a pang of satisfaction that her first time would be with someone who really cared about her, who loved and cherished her. Their next kiss was initiated by him, deeper and more passionate than the one before, but not forcing or pushy. He felt Katie shove her hands into his hair, ruffling it gently, before pulling off his glasses. She chuckled at his confused blink.

“These will just be in the way.” Carefully, she put them aside onto her nightstand before pulling Matt down into another kiss. He let himself sink down on her, eyes closed, her arms around him and his hands in her hair, occasionally playing with the ribbon at the back of her nightshirt’s collar. “Want me to take it off already?” Katie murmured against Matt’s lips, nudging them open with her tongue.

“I-isn’t this a bit too fast?”

Katie’s laugh was bright and soft in the dark of the room, and she nuzzled his nose. “You gotta get up early for the launch tomorrow, right? So we shouldn’t waste too much time.” She shrugged underneath him, tugging on the collar of his pajama.

Matt swallowed heavily as her fingers brushed his Adam’s apple and he nodded, eyes unfocused like in a trance. “Damn Katie, when did you get this confident about sex?”

“Matt, I’m fourteen. I know what the internet is.”

“You _masturbate_?!” Matt exclaimed indignantly, jolting upright.

“Oh for fuck’s sake, don’t act like you don’t, too.”

“Yes, but I’m three years older than you!”

“Oh? And when did you start?”

Matt mumbled something that Katie didn’t quite understand, but she didn’t bother with asking further. Instead, she abused Matt’s position to sneak her hands underneath his pajama, exploring his body, pinching his nipples for a bit, making him yelp in surprise and arousal. “ _K-Katie_! You can’t just -”

“Oh, and who’s going to stop me?” Katie grinned, pinching a bit harder to test both his and her own boundaries. It was hard to make out his facial expression in the dark room, so she decided to stop before she’d ruin the mood by hurting him, even though his quiet moans were absolutely delicious to listen to. “How about you just take off that shirt; and while you’re at it …” She glanced down to Matt’s pajama pants and to the obvious erection pressing against her hip. “… maybe you should get rid of those, too.”

Matt just nodded, cheeks burning hot, and shakily got up to remove his clothes, fumbling with the buttons in excitement. When he turned back around to face Katie, he grew absolutely speechless and his mouth went dry: She had taken off her thin nightshirt and was now sitting on the bed completely naked, small, barely developed breasts ever so slightly curving on her chest, the soft roundness of her slim hips and for the thousandth time this day, Matt realized how gorgeous and graceful his little sister was. “You … god, Katie, you are so beautiful.” He took her face into both of his hands, pulling her into a deep kiss while sliding back on the bed, legs left and right of her hip, his cock straining hard against her belly.

“Matt,” Katie whispered hoarsely, and the sound of his name in that passionate, breathless voice made him shudder. “I’m sorry to ruin the mood, but … do you have, umm, protection?”

Oh. _Oh_. “Y-yeah … just a second, I got a condom somewhere in the back pocket of my pants.” Hurriedly, he got up again to search through the heap of clothes on the floor and eventually pulled out a condom and a small packet of lube.

“I see you came well-prepared.” Katie chuckled softly, now sprawled out on her back on the bed and looking at Matt with a slightly mischievous glint in her eyes.

Matt chuckled and returned to the bed, climbing on top of Katie again, biting his lip every time skin met naked skin. Goosebumps covered his arms and as he raised a hand to touch her naked tits, he hesitated. “Katie … if you want me to stop, just say the word, okay?”

“I will. Promise.” Katie smiled up at him, brushing some stray strands of hair out of his eyes. Then, she took his hand and guided it along her body until it came to rest on her tit. “For now … enjoy yourself.”

A smile spread on Matt’s lips, so happy, so confident that it even showed a hint of teeth in the bleak moonlight shining through the window. He bent down for another kiss, tongue carefully tracing Katie’s lips, only to intrude when they were parted by a gasp he earned from pinching her nipples. Matt wanted to explore her, to take his time with her, to make it unforgettable. He traced a line of butterfly kisses from her lips over her cheek to her earlobe, letting her hear his breath coming in quick, impatient gasps, then kissing down her throat. It took all of his self control to not leave a cheeky small hickey on the pale, soft skin right above Katie’s jugular, so he distracted himself by moving further down, taking the other nipple into his mouth to suckle on it, tasting her salty skin and feeling the hardness on his tongue.

Katie buried her hands in his hair, biting her lip again and again to stifle any sounds and Matt wished for nothing more than to be alone with her in the house, to see her let herself go, to hear the moans and gasps and whimpers he wanted to draw out of her. But the way she shivered underneath him, the way her heart fluttered beneath his hands and lips and the way her hip arched against his was enough … for this time, at least.

Katie could _feel_ herself growing wet, could feel her clit and her whole cunt throb with excitement and impatience. Electricity surged through her as Matt licked and sucked and – dear god - _pinched_ her nipples. Hands buried in his hair to have something, anything to hold onto, she bucked up against him.

She needed more.

“Matt …”

He shuddered as he heard his name, whispered shakily in the darkness of the room, and slowly pulled away from her nipple, but still cupping her small breasts in his slender fingers. “Y-yes, Katie?”

“Please … I … I think I want more.”

“Fingers?”

She glanced down to him, into those warm, brown eyes, the adoration in them mirroring her own, and nodded hastily. “Anything.”

Again, Matt smiled at her, left hand tracing lines down her body in feather-light touches, while the right steadied her body, wrapped around the small of her back. He covered her cunt with his hand, engulfing it and feeling the heat radiating off of it, occasionally rubbing her clit while spreading her open. “God, Katie … you feel wonderful.”

The breathless, suppressed moans she’d given him until this point were interrupted by a chuckle. “You’re a real charmer, aren’t you.”

Matt lay his head down onto her chest, a stray strand of hair tickling her nipple. “Oh, am I?” And with that, he pressed a fingertip against her entrance, slowly intruding. “… have you ever done _this_ to yourself, Katie?”

After she swallowed another moan, she forced out a shaky “Y-yeah … b-but just one finger … never tried more.”

He saw this as a signal to slowly shove the finger in further, first the tip, the first knuckle, then the second, all the while crooking and twisting it to prepare and explore her.

She clasped a hand over her mouth, trying to stifle any sound – they really couldn’t risk waking their parents – and bucked up against his finger, eyes rolling back into her head as Matt added a second digit, scissoring her open, spreading her and teasing her insides mercilessly.

“P-please Matt … I … I think I’m ready.”

“Already? You sure?”

Katie nodded hastily. Even in the dark of the room, Matt could see her thighs quiver, her hands crumpling the sheets where she held onto them for some kind of stability. He swallowed and pulled out his fingers, accompanied by an obscenely wet sound that made both of them gasp, then he grabbed the condom packet, opened it and, although a bit shaky, managed to put it on.

“Lube,” Katie said into the dark of the night and Matt responded with a quick “Oh. Of course. Sorry”, before squirting a bit of the liquid on his hand where it mingled with Katie’s fluid. With gentle, slow movements, he rubbed it first around her entrance and then took himself in hand, coating his cock in a generous amount before positioning it against her cunt. For a second, he stilled, listening to Katie’s and his own ragged, impatient breaths. Then he slowly, _finally_ pushed the tip of his cock into her, eyes never looking away from her face to search for any signs of discomfort.

“Oh _fuck_ , Matt, you’re big,” Katie choked out, holding onto him.

“T-too big?”

She rolled her eyes and chuckled hoarsely. “You know, literally every other dude would’ve just taken that as a compliment.” With a grin, she craned her neck upwards to kiss him. “Now shut up and fuck me.”

The lewd choice of words made Matt moan, a sound barely suppressed by pressing his face against the curve of Katie’s neck, mouthing hotly at the skin. He wrapped his arms around her, holding onto her while, inch by inch, his cock sank deeper into her until he was fully seated. “K-Katie … god, you feel so good.”

“You too …”

Matt let out a whimper against her skin and then started moving with slow, shallow thrusts to get Katie accustomed to the feeling. She was tight around him, tight and hot and wet and so, so good and he had thought about this so many times, on every lonely night.

“Faster,” Katie groaned into his ear, “Come on, let me feel you.”

He bucked up into her and she had to clasp a hand over her mouth to at least muffle her noises of pleasure when his thrusts grew faster, when he stopped holding back, when he – oh dear god – snuck a hand between their bodies to rub her clit with shaky fingers.

They didn’t last long. After all, it was the first time for both of them, and when Matt tensed above her, he bit down on her shoulder as his climax washed over him like a tidal wave. He continued to massage her clit until she clenched around him – milking the last few drops of come out of his softening cock – and finally came herself, fingers dug into the skin of Matt’s back and legs wrapped around his hip.

His breath was hot and quick against her ear when he let go of her shoulder and planted a soft, apologetic kiss onto the bite mark. “Sorry,” he mumbled, rolling off of her to collapse at her side.

“Holy shit,” Katie answered, gulps of air just as quick and overwhelmed as Matt’s, “Matt, you have absolutely _nothing_ to apologize for. Oh my god. We … we gotta do this again when you return.”

“No, I mean the bite mark. Didn’t mean to hurt you.”

Katie turned towards him, a warm smile playing on the corners of her mouth. “I love it, actually. It’s gonna remind me of you.” She brushed a stray strand of sweat-slicked hair away from Matt’s face. “Now … we should probably toss the condom somewhere where mom can’t find it. Clean up. … you should go back to your room.” The last sentence was silently, almost regretful. All she wanted was to cuddle up to Matt all night and sleep in his arms.

He smiled at her, kissed her forehead. “We can tell mom you wanted to sleep in my bed one last time before I leave. It’ll be weird, but it should be okay. How’s that sound?”

And when Katie flung her arms around him and gave him a soft, drawn-out kiss, he knew his sister loved him and she was going to be okay.

 

The next morning, Katie awoke in Matt’s bed, huddled up against his chest. They had changed into clean clothes and snuck off into Matt’s room the night before. When she looked up, she looked into her brother’s warm eyes.

“Good morning, sunshine.”

“Good morning, space dork. … we should probably get up and get you to the launch pad, huh?”

“Mmh.” Matt kissed the top of her head, taking a deep breath full of her scent. “We should. … hey, you know what?”

Katie tilted her head. “… what is it?”

“We should ask Shiro to take a photo of us in front of the launch pad. So both of us have something to look at until I come back from Kerberos.”

“That … that sounds great, Matt.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Phew, that took a while to do. :'D  
> Biggest Kudos to mod Kuro who helped me a whole lot with this chapter!
> 
> A small word of warning: This fic was fully plotted out before S4, so it's gonna be a bit canon-divergent. However, I'll try my best to implement some of the new things S4 told us. :)

 

She jerked up from her thoughts when she heard a knock on the door. Pidge put aside her tablet and got up, the high-tech doors of her room in the castle obediently sliding open once she got close to them. Seeing her visitor, a smile spread on her lips. “Hey, Shiro.”

 

Shiro smiled back down at her, hands in the pockets of his sweatpants. They were taking a break on a relatively peaceful planet, just a few days of fresh air before getting back to their fight against Zarkon and even her usually tense, strategic boyfriend had been showing a more casual, more relaxed side of himself. “Afternoon, Pidge. Can I come in?”

 

“Do you even have to ask?”

 

“I can't help it, I'm just that polite.” He grinned and entered the room. His glance fell to the tablet still lying on the bedside table. The screen showed a bunch of opened files, layered over one another in different windows. Some were in Galran, some were in Altean and others were written in the human alphabet. The folder was titled 'matt.zip'. Shiro's smile faded into a melancholic expression.

 

Following Shiro's gaze, Pidge picked up the tablet and pushed some of the files around, into a new order that Shiro couldn't quite comprehend. “I miss him, Shiro,” she finally said and sighed.

 

Shiro sighed as well, hand stroking through Pidge's hair. “I know. Me too. I bet he misses you as well.”

 

“How would you know?” Pidge tilted her head, rubbing it against Shiro's hand slightly.

 

A chuckle escaped Shiro's throat and he nuzzled her scalp, making her yelp and blush a little. “He told me a lot about you. You know, if you're stuck in a spaceship from earth to the edge of the solar system for months, you don't have much of a choice but to become best friends.”

 

“Oh? What did he tell you?”

 

“He said you're smart. You're funny and nice to be around. He loves you.”

 

A flush crept up on Pidge's cheeks, both from the praise and from certain _memories_. She had to force a smile, recalling that she kept her relationship with Matt a secret, even from Shiro. He'd never understand what Matt's 'I love you' meant to her, and maybe it was better that way. “... that … that is nice to hear. Thanks, Shiro.”

 

“Don't thank me, thank him when we find him. And we will. I promise.” Shiro leaned towards her to place a kiss to her forehead.

 

“I know we will,” Pidge replied and flung her arms around Shiro's broad chest, nuzzling her face into the loose, soft shirt he was wearing. “... can you stay for a bit?”

 

“I was planning to do just that, actually.” He smiled a little sheepishly, the human hand in Pidge's hair and the other one scratching his neck. “We haven't had much time to ourselves lately. I wanted to ask if you'd like to hang out a bit.”  
  


“Why don't you just call it a date?” She pouted jokingly and poked his forehead. “We've been together for literally half a year.”

 

“Well, it'd be a date if it'd involve a fancy dinner and a nice walk on the bea-”

 

“Oh shut it, you hopeless romantic.”

 

“Hey, I'm trying to be a good boyfriend here!”

 

“I don't know, right now you're pretty good at being a cute idiot.”

  
Shiro laughed and leaned down to kiss her gently. “Oh is that so?”, he whispered against the soft skin of her lips and Pidge shuddered a little.

 

“Honestly, if you want to fuck, you could just say so,” she replied bluntly, tongue darting out to lick at Shiro's mouth.

 

“That's not really what I meant by hanging out-”

 

“But you don't object?”

 

“Well I-”

 

“So you don't.” And with that, Pidge pulled him down by the collar of his shirt until both of them tumbled down onto her mattress, Shiro's body covering hers. She looked up at him, at the white tuft of hair dangling awkwardly above her forehead, at the warm smile on his lips and the loving, but always slightly tired expression in his eyes. “I love you, Shiro,” she said, voice somewhere between a purr and a whisper.

 

Shiro's answer was a warm kiss to her lips. He settled down on his elbows to the left and right of her head so he could bury his fingers in her hair. He'd always have a fascination for the incredibly floofy, soft mop the Holt siblings shared and couldn't help but chuckle when he thought of Matt's pouty face whenever Shiro messed with his so called 'hairstyle'.

 

“What's so funny?”, asked Pidge and tilted her head.

 

“... oh wow, this is going to be awkward. I … pfft. I couldn't help but think of the face Matt made whenever I ruffled that mess that he calls hair.”

 

Pidge blinked a few times, and for a second Shiro worried he'd made her angry by changing the subject like that, but then she burst out laughing, so much that she had to wipe a tear from her eye. “Oh wow. You really did that? He barely ever let me touch his hair except when we- … umm, nevermind.”

 

Shiro's eyebrows shot up. “'Nevermind', huh? You do realize I won't stop pestering you until you tell me more about this 'nevermind', right?”

 

“... I'm serious, Shiro. I'd … I'd rather not talk about it with you.”

 

He nuzzled her nose with his and placed a kiss on the tip. “Okay. Then I won't pester. Sorry.”

 

“No need to apologize. You couldn't know.” She raised her eyebrows, a cheeky grin forming on her lips. “Now, where were we?”

 

“You're just trying to get me to stop asking,” Shiro replied with a frown of which Pidge wasn't sure it was joking or serious.

 

“Does it work?”

 

“Well I-”

 

“That's a yes.” Pidge pulled Shiro down into a passionate kiss, tongue sneaking inbetween his lips, stealing his breath away and effectively keeping him from asking any more questions. She fisted a hand into his hair, pulling him closer until both of their bodies were pressed flush against each other and Shiro gave into the kiss, opening his mouth for her.

 

“Love you,” he murmured as they separated, lips wet and cheeks flushed red.

 

“Love you too,” she answered breatlessly, her hands sneaking underneath Shiro's shirt, where she let herself get lost in the crisscross of scars, tracing them with her fingers. A shudder ran down Shiro's spine, making him tense up with the tingling sensation left behind by Pidge's neatly trimmed nails.

 

“P-Pidge ...”

 

She'd never get used to how easily Shiro could come undone like this if one just knew his weak spots – the scar across his chest, likely from a Galran blade, the burn mark on his left shoulderblade and the small spot on his back, between the fourth and fifth rib that always made him gasp. It made it easy for Pidge to keep Shiro's mind off any distractions and ill thoughts, their shared arousal often overriding nightmares, bad memories and stress. She smiled gently as her fingers found Shiro's nipples, drawing a loud moan from his lips.

 

“God, Pidge, what are you _doing_ to me ...”

 

Her smile turned into a grin and she pulled him towards herself to kiss him. “Distracting you, obviously. Would be nice if you'd return the favor, though.”

 

Shiro just chuckled into the kiss and snuck a hand under Pidge's sweater to cup her breast – as usual, she wasn't wearing a bra when she was just sitting in her room – and gently flicked his thumb against her nipple. “Distraction enough?”, he purred, licking the lobe of her ear and nibbling his way down her throat, leaving small hickeys here and there.

 

She shuddered underneath him, gasping whenever he hit an especially sensitive spot. “Y-yeah … you're doing good,” she replied cheekily, but Shiro could see in her half-lidded eyes that their little game of tag was over. He grabbed the hem of her sweatpants and grinned.

 

“Then maybe we should get these out of the way. And your sweater, while we're at it.”

 

Pidge playfully batted at his face with a giggle and then sat up to obediently get rid of her clothing until she was stripped down to her panties, while Shiro did the same, the bulge in his pants becoming more apparent now that he was only wearing his briefs. A visible shudder ran down his spine as Pidge crawled towards him, on top of him, her movements as fluid as those of a lioness on the hunt. She bent down to press another passionate kiss to his lips, gentle but with a hint of teeth nonetheless. As she tried to entangle her fingers with his, Shiro grinned widely, strong digits wrapping around her wrist.

 

“Do you really think you can hold me down?” he asked, stroking her palm with a thumb, “or are you just playing around?” Slowly, teasingly, he brought her hand up to his lips, tongue darting out to give the fingertips a few teasing licks before sucking two of them into his mouth. He glanced up to Pidge's face and couldn't help but smile about her breathless, surprised expression, mouth open, cheeks flushed a bright red. A look further down, to where her crotch was pressing against his, let him discover a slight damp spot forming at the front of her panties and he slipped her fingers out of his mouth. “Do you realize how wet you already are?”

 

“Shut up,” growled Pidge, trailing the wet fingers down his body, over the thin patch of hair disappearing underneath the fabric of his briefs, “before I change my mind about this.”

 

Any reply Shiro wanted to give got stuck in his throat as Pidge finally wrapped her hand around his cock, thumb teasing the slit that was already leaking precome. She didn't waste much time, stroking him just a few times, spreading the liquid along his shaft, before roughly tugging down his briefs and slipping out of her panties. Both her and Shiro let out a long moan as she finally pressed her wet heat against him, grinding her clit against his cock.

 

Shiro bucked his hips impatiently and eventually settled for digging the fingers of both of his hands into the skin of her hips, stilling her in her movement. “Need you,” he breathed, “need you around me. Now. _Please._ ”

 

His begging seemed to be what broke every last bit of Pidge's playful resistance, as she hastily slipped two fingers inside herself, spreading, tilting, crooking them to prepare herself as quickly as possible. Her moans filled the room, accompanied by the wet sounds of her fingers moving in and out.

 

Shiro watched her every move, his cock twitching whenever her hand grazed it. “R-ready?”, he choked out, hands tense against her thighs.

 

“Y-yeah. I think so. Just … don't be too rough yet, okay?”

 

He buried his flesh hand in her hair and tugged her down to kiss her once again. “Will do.”

 

And finally, finally, she lined his cock up with her entrance, sliding down on it, reveling in the near-painful stretch sending jolts of elictricity up her spine. Her eyes half-closed, she could still see how Shiro's fingers clawed at the sheets, wrinkling and near tearing them in some spots. A self-satisfied grin passed over her lips.

 

“Oh _fuck_ ,” Shiro let out, not much more than a grunt, and it was obvious that it took all of his self-control not to buck up into her or just turn them over and fuck her into the mattress. However, Pidge made him realize very quickly that he wouldn't even need to do that as she seated herself fully on top of him, his cock inside of her up to the hilt. Just as he was about to beg yet again for her to just _go on_ , to just _not stop_ , she steadied herself, hands splayed out on his chest and started moving.

 

A second later, she stole every word right off his tongue.

 

-

When Pidge came and Shiro followed, both of them shouted a name neither of them were expecting. In the silence of the room, the echo of _Matt_ hung in the air and had both Shiro and Pidge freeze in their motion.

 

Seconds after the initial shock had passed, Pidge scrambled to get away from Shiro, from her shame, from the incredible sadness and disgust she'd find in his features – but a hand on her wrist held her back.

 

“Pidge. Pidge, please. Look at me.”

 

Slowly, she turned her head, eyes already wet with tears and her slim shoulders shaking and just as slowly, Shiro let go of her wrist and rested his hand on her cheek, warm skin on skin. Pidge swallowed once, twice, tried to blink away the tears before she looked up in Shiro's face.

 

He was smiling. It was a shaky, uncomfortable smile, but his eyes, his whole expression, reflected understanding and undeniable love. “Can I tell you something? About him and me?”

 

She gave a tired sigh and nodded. “Is it okay if I come back into your arms?”

 

“It always is.”

 

And then she laid down next to him, head resting on Shiro's chest, one hand on his heart, as Shiro wrapped his strong arms around her and kissed her forehead.

 

“Matt and I … were dating. If you can call it that. I already told you that, on the flight to Kerberos, we've become best friends and I'm sorry for not being completely honest with you. We weren't friends, we were together, in love, whatever you want to call it. I guess you could say it was a bit like a teenage romance – head over heels in love with each other, occasionally forgetting everything else ...” He rubbed the back of his neck and a flush crept up his cheeks. “We never had sex though. A spaceship with your dad on it, Pluto's moon and a Galra cruiser aren't really the most comfortable sceneries for that.”

 

Pidge couldn't hold back a chuckle and almost went into a full-on laughing fit. “Okay, okay, I know it's not supposed to be a funny story, but the image of you and Matt sneaking around the spaceship trying not to get caught by dad is _hilarious_.”

 

“Pidge, be serious,” Shiro only replied in a mockery of his usual, tense leadership voice.

 

“Yes sir,” huffed Pidge, wiping a few tears from her eyes – from laughter or relief, she could not tell. Then she sighed and her expression grew serious again. “I … I realize now, we have something in common.” She took a deep breath and swallowed once around the lump in her throat. “... I love Matt. In the same way that you did. In … in the same way that I love you, Shiro.” For the second time this day, Pidge couldn't bear to look Shiro in the eye, instead watching his chest rise and fall with calm, deep breaths.

 

For what seemed like an eternity, Shiro fell silent. Then he bent down, kissed Pidge's hair. “I know. I've known from the beginning. I've seen him in you and you've seen what's left of him in me … and now we're seeing each other as ourselves. And that is fine.”

**Author's Note:**

> Also on Tumblr: http://darkestquasar.tumblr.com/post/156643017090/on-course-chapter-1


End file.
